FOOTBALL Mid North Coast has ruled out tinkering with the draw for this year's premier league to counter problems with refereeing numbers.
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FMNC general manager Peter Daniels said all matches in 2015 will remain on Saturday afternoons, as programmed. However, Mr Daniels said the board will look at the structure of the competition for next year if refereeing numbers don't improve.
"At the moment we have enough, although we will always welcome more,'' Mr Daniels said.
Football Mid North Coast has to provide match officials for premier league games at five locations each week. The league takes in 10 clubs from Forster-Tuncurry to Kempsey.
Referees are also required for the southern and northern open age competitions, women's fixtures along with any Herald Women's Premier League matches played in this area.
Mr Daniels said the board made moves this year to counter the concern about a shortfall in referees
"There was an edit this year that all clubs had to provide what are called club referees,'' he explained.
"Each club provides an official who completes a referee's course. They may then be required to act as a match official - usually running a line. They are also paid accordingly.''
The two referee associations within FMNC's boundaries merged late last year.
"There's no northern and southern associations now,'' Mr Daniels said.
"They're all under the Football Mid North Coast umbrella.''
Mr Daniels admits there has been some reluctance among the refereeing fraternity to travel and this is causing some problems.
"If we have the best referee in the world living in Kempsey and the best premier league game of the weekend is at Taree or Forster, we want that referee to officiate there,'' he said.
Match officials are compensated for travel, he added.
Mr Daniels said the referees from the southern section seem more amenable to travel than their northern counterparts. In last Saturday's premier league clash between Old Bar and Kempsey Saints that was transferred to Kempsey, all referees came from the Taree area.
It has been suggested in the past that FMNC might stagger the premier league games, playing some matches on either a Friday night or a Sunday afternoon. Board vice chairman Mike Parsons said last year that this will be considered, although more to promote a match of the round than to deal with refereeing numbers.
Mr Daniels said this remains a real possibility. However, he quickly added nothing will change with this year's draw.
He said there will be a complete review of the competition at season's end before any decision is made.